Players' exit from Chico High boys basketball team prompts action

It should have been a good time for the Panthers, winning their league opener by so much. But after the game, Derrek Gordon, Eli Penick and Trevon Reid all decided to leave the team.

Now, Gordon's mother, Nicole, said she has contacted the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People regarding the treatment — she and he both said — he received during his time on the team and before.

She went on to say that "for all three kids to quit on the same day something must be going on. I don't think it can be a coincidence that all three African-American players quit on the same day."

Gordon continued, saying a lawsuit wasn't even a consideration anymore, and she was "just trying to find the right attorney."

Chico High coach Kirk Bruchler, one of the most successful coaches in the Northern Section since he took over the Panthers, said he couldn't comment on the matter Saturday because it is a student issue.

Hanlon did stress that he has worked with Bruchler for 12 years and he has "unquestioned integrity."

Hanlon also said that Bruchler, who served as the junior varsity basketball coach for several seasons and the baseball JV coach, has never had an issue in all that time.

Chico High athletic director Chip Carton said he would let Hanlon speak for them both before pointing out that Bruchler's assistant in the past, Tim Cooper, is an African-American, but Cooper was part of the group of Chico High volunteer coaches who were ruled ineligible by the section for coaching while not having all mandatory coaching courses completed.

Bruchler's win-loss record is 91-19 in his three-plus seasons as the varsity coach. Each season under Bruchler, Chico has won the section title. Last year, the Panthers reached the Northern California Division II semifinals after knocking off Antelope, making for one of the most successful seasons in the school's history.

Penick and Reid said a lack of playing time was the basis for them leaving the team.

The win against Las Plumas when the three left was the Panthers' first game in nearly two weeks and because of that — coupled with Foothill and Pleasant Valley appearing next on the schedule — Bruchler said he wanted to shake off any rust his primary players might have accumulated during the break.

Both Gordon and his mother, though, said the issues started much further back than that game, which included a teammate and Gordon in a confrontation on the bench that night. Late in the game after the outcome had already been decided, Gordon cheered for his cousin, Deangelo Bradford, a Las Plumas player, when he scored.

* Being issued a different equipment bag than other players. "His was just this ratty, black bag," she said. "Everyone else had these nice, red bags with their numbers on them."

* He missed three days after being suspended for a photo he took during the Almond Bowl and posted it on his Facebook page. The photo, which included a school official, eventually made its way to campus and led to the suspension. "They suspended him, and they didn't even call me," she said.

* Gordon said he talked to the coach after three players didn't practice during the week of the Pleasant Valley tournament, yet they still played in the event. Gordon said he asked the coach about it, and Gordon said, "He told me, 'I was the anchor of the team,' and I was bringing the team down. How can I be the anchor if I never play?"

Once he left the team, Gordon's mother said she couldn't sit back.

"They were looking for a reason to get Derrek off the team," she said. "That squad is an elite squad. Everyone can play on that team."

Gordon's mother added she's not sure what can be done as a resolution because her son can't get his junior year back.

"I'm looking for exposure on how Derrek has been treated. Maybe it will change for the next student-athlete because we have spoke up," she said. "Every other school is clamoring for Derrek to play for them, why not Chico?"

Her son agreed.

"I'm not just looking out for myself," Gordon said Friday night. "I'm looking out for all the juniors in that class. We have a talented junior class. Maybe then coach won't just play his special five."

Kenneth McMillian, a 2010 Chico High graduate, who like the three who left the team is an African-American, said he enjoyed playing for Bruchler.

"Love Coach Bruchler," McMillian said on Saturday after he led the Butte College Roadrunners with 23 points in a 61-59 victory over Redwoods. "Played for him twice. Love him."